LCD viewing angles

[admin_exported]

Does anyuone have any acurate measure of the viewing anhle of Sonys 46W4000 tv? I am planning on buying one as I have limited my choice to LCD over Plasma, on the grounds that too much gaming goes on in our house and could result in screenburn on a plasma. Sony's website says 178degress, but I have read that there is no standard for quality of picture among manufacturers figures, so I don't know if this is the limit of top quality image, or just a watchable one!

This remains the only area of concern for me with LCD, as our viewing area may be a bit too broad for an LCD set...perhaps I need to get the protractor out and take it to the shop with me!

 

[Oldenbroke]

I haven't measured the viewing angle accurately, but on my 40W2000 the quality is good at wider angles,

but I wouldn't want to seriously watch a picture 6 inches wide! I would estimate 135 deg as bearable

but not serious gaming or movie quality. Should be even better on a bigger screen, and wouldn't expect

it to improve for plasma. You sound in need of IMAX.......Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic - any takers?

 

[Anonymous]

Phil, you're right there are a variable set of standards applied to things like this.

With LCDs the limit of the viewing angle(which should technically be referred to as the viewing cone) is most commonly taken as being where the contrast ratio reaches either 5:1 or 10:1.

I'd go for the protractor in store frankly.
hth
Gary

 

[Anonymous]

Your idea of not getting a plasma JUST because of screen burn is silly. Most TVs nowadays almost never get screen-burn anyway, but they still have better picture quality and pound-for-pound value than LCDs. Try the Pioneer PDP-5080XD. It might only be 720p, but the fact that it has an amazing, better than LCD, 16,000:1 contrast ratio means better blacks and colour, and overall better quality than your Sony. ÿ

 

[Fisty1967]

I recently bought a Samsung LE46A656 LCD. This panel supports 1080p with 25fps support. Has a contrast ratio of 50000:1 and 100hz motion plus technology for fast action & sports. The picture quality is excellent with an SD source but WOW with an HD source. As for the colours and especially the blacks, this is the best I've seen.

Please don't just take my word for it, I recommend you read some of the reviews and go see it in store yourself.

 

[Anonymous]

You may think that a fear of screenburn is silliy but in the most recent letter to What WS TV on the subject, they dismissed screenburn as an issue....unless you are a serious gamer!

There are four people in my house, three of whom play a lot of games, so I think the risk is a genuine one, and although it seems the top Pioneer plasmas have the edge on quality, by all accounts it is not by much, plus they are at their best in darker rooms, which ours rarely is when the tv is in use.

I don't suppose extended warranties would cover screenburn damage? If they did I might reconsider...

 

[Anonymous]

Screen burn is only an issue for static images. If the start screen is left on then that would be a contender but I doubt most modern next gen games would remain on screen in action long enough to have any static screen burn issues.

 

[professorhat]

I'm an avid gamer and have been playing games on my Panasonic plasma for over 3 years with no issues of screen burn. I do get image retention (which looks like screen burn when the screen is blank) from time to time when I've been playing for a few hours, but this is easily cleared by switching to another source (e.g. normal TV) - after a few seconds of this playing the ghost images of image retention have gone.